After reading about hallmarking ones jewelery,What, where, and
who, has records on a hallmark. I had my stamp made 25 years ago
and have forgotten if it is trademarked somewhere. Who would one
contact to look up anothers hallmark. I hope this is not a
really lame question. Thomas

I just stopped by the Trademark office archives on the Web, and
was pretty impressed by the amount of available. I’d
always been told a trademark search required an attorney because
of the trademark search, but it would seem to me this Web site
would at least reduce that need. Even if you still use an
attorney to do the filing, I would think you might be able to cut
down on his billable hours by doing a search yourself so you
don’t submit a mark that is doomed to failure.

However, I was only browsing around, not actually searching for
a trademark I wanted to register. My question is, has anyone
actually used this database to register a trademark? I’d love to
hear about your experiences!

I did my hallmark 3 years ago by stopping in at the hallmark
registration office and pulling the drawers with my type of
hallmark (letters) and my area (precious metals) to make sure
that my mark didn’t conflict with anyone else’s. That appears
to be what the lawyer charges big money to do. I saw that there
were a lot of registered marks with the two initials I had been
using, but I had also built a third letter into my monogram mark
(you could read the extra letter into it or not). It passed with
no objections. The online version was not available at that
point, but had it been, I think I could have done the same
research without leaving the computer (I just happened to be
staying in the Washington, D.C. area earlier and had some time
on my hands so I checked it out in person). I think you always
run the risk of someone with a simular mark or using the same
letters making a ch the process over.

Hi Suzanne, You still need to have your lawyer take care of it
because the site is not completely up to date. This is what I am
currently doing. I ran the search to see if it would be available
and then when I couldn’t find a trace of competition for my
trademark I called my trademark lawyer to complete the search in
the recent archives that haven’t been added to the website. He
should be calling any day now. I also told him that I did the
internet search and came up with nothing to confict so it looked
available. While I was there I checked on my registered trademark
status and noticed that someone else had applied for my existing
one. So it is a good thing to be able to check up on.

I tried two and a half years ago to process a trademark with the
available online It cost me several hundred dollars
and I ended up frustrated and angry. At the time I did everything
myself. From the search to the filing of the application. The
Trademark office even give you examples on how to do it. Last
year I turned over all of the process to a Trademark and
Copyright attorney and now have the Registered Trademark I
wanted.

I think anyone who does this himself is nuts. With any errors of
your application the office can keep your money and tell you to
start over. This did not happen to me but there are more check
and legal maze to go through than you can believe. There are even
more levels of searching for other owners than you realize. There
are international rules and regulations we have no idea about.

For my time and energy I will have an attorney do all of my
patent and copyright work from now on. That’s why there are
attorneys that specialize in this area of law. I can’t prove this
but I also think that the office is full of attorneys who want to
deal with other attorneys out of professional courtesy. Kind of a
good old boys club. What would you say to the person off the
street who wanted to set their own diamond?

I also have a patent pending that has cost a lot but I am
confident that it is being processed competently.